Water Governance: Challenges and Prospects

Dr. Amarjit Singh is from the Indian Administrative Service, and is a former Union Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. In this capacity he has been intimately connected with several national endeavors, such as the National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Programme, National Hydrology Project; Ganga Rejuvenation and Inter Linking of Rivers, to mention a few. He led the Indian delegation for talks on Indus with Pakistan on several occasions.In his early career he served in various capacities the drought prone Saurashtra region of Gujarat and has experienced first hand the water woes of the people during rain deficient years. He worked closely with the World Bank for assistance for various health programmes and followed this up with a PhD at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. His research work was widely published in leading scientific journals. His work in Gujarat for promoting PPPs in the Health Sector was widely appreciated and in 2008 he was awarded the Prime Minister’s Medal for excellence in Public Administration. He is a regular guest speaker at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie and other prestigious institutions like the NDC. Dr. Dipankar Saha is former Member (Head Quarters), Central Ground Water Board, under Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. He also acted as National Coordinator of National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme, the largest ground water mapping endeavor in the world, as Member Secretary Central Ground Water Authority. He is PhD on Ground Water Management from IIT-ISM Dhanbad and has authored more than 50 papers in International Peer Reviewed Journals, besides more than 25 national and state level reports. He is professionally trained on Applied Quaternary Geology by Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok and on Integrated Water Resources Management, by JICA, Tokyo. He has delivered many key note addresses in conferences and meetings in India and abroad, like World Bank at Kathmandu, International Atomic Energy Agency at Ho-Chi Minh City, and Vienna, World Water Week – Stockholm, India-UK Water Security Exchange- Wallingford, Oxfordshire. He has attended short time consultancy at IAEA Vienna and led the Government of India Delegation to Myanmar.  He remained member of many high level National Committees and has Edited Co-edited 5 books/Journals, the recent one is Clean and Sustainable Groundwater in India by Springer. He is the recipient of National Geoscience Award – 2010 on Ground Water Exploration and Excellence in Ground Water conferred by International Association of Hydrogeologist – India Chapter in 2014. Er. Avinash C. Tyagi, a 1973 graduate from University of Roorkee, India and a post graduate from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, has vast experience in dealing with various facets of water resources management starting from hydrologic observation to disaster risk management to inter-state water dispute resolution to contributing to the national and international policy making. He served as Commissioner of Policy Planning in Ministry of Water Resources in India before leading Water and Climate wing at World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as Director. He was instrumental in reviving the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), an international professional non-governmental organization, as its Secretary General. A leader in true sense, both at WMO and ICID he introduced and successfully implemented a host of internationally acclaimed initiatives. Er. Tyagi, through his interaction with water, climate and disaster managers from various member countries of WMO and ICID, gained an intimate knowledge of issues related to water resources, climate change and disaster management in developing countries around the world and helped them through transfer of technology and capacity development. He interacted with policy makers, and ministers of many member countries. Er. Tyagi is an ardent advocate of multi-disciplinary collaboration for resolving complex development challenges, and in continuing dialogue among various stakeholders and community participation in the water sector. 

Water governance issues in India.- Constitutional provisions related to water: integrated planning and management of a river basin – a review.- Water resources assessment of basins of India using space inputs.- Managing and sanctifying our water bodies.- Hydropower – the way ahead.- National aquifer mapping and management plan: a step towards water security in India.- Rejuvenation of aquifers.- An untold story of groundwater replenishment in India: Impact of long-term policy interventions.- Bringing aquifers and communities together: decentralised grounwater governance in rural India.- Deterioration of groundwater quality implications and management.- Integrated development of reservoirs unified control for efficient flood oderation in Ganga basin.- Resilience building in flood prone areas: from flood protection to flood management.- Flood management strategy for Brahmaputra basin.- Governance in the water sector.- Governing ground water.- Farmers participation in managing water for agriculture.- Civil society for water sector.- Capacity development for sustainable water resources management in India.- Water supply and sewerage systems in India.- Crafting a paradigm shift in water.- Research and development in the water sector in India.